There exist many mechanisms for tightening shoes, boots, skates, and other footwear. Conventional mechanisms for tightening footwear range from simple manual lace tightening to more complex buckles or clamps and the like. Manual lace tightening has many drawbacks including, for example, difficulty in adjusting the lace tightness and uneven distribution of pressure from the tightening. Buckle and clamp style systems, while quicker than manual lace tightening, cause pressure points where the buckles or clamps exist. These pressure points cause localized hot spots and irritation, which can lead to blisters and the like.
VELCRO® straps can be used in place of buckles and/or laces, but they suffer many of the drawbacks of buckles in they produce localized pressure points and uneven tightness distribution. Further, the straps are prearranged, similar to buckles, inhibiting the shoe from free forming to a user's foot shape. The result is localized pressure points and hotspots that can irritate the foot.
An existing automatic lace tightening system is described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,558, issued Sep. 18, 2001, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,599, issued Aug. 10, 1999, both titled FOOTWEAR LACING SYSTEM, both issued to Hammerslag. The Hammerslag Patents describe a circular tightening apparatus that is rotated to tighten the laces and locked in place with a ratchet and pawl lock. The laces are loosened by releasing the lock by lifting the pawl and pulling on the laces to loosen them, or using reverse rotation of the ratchet. As can be seen, the Hammerslag Patents disclose a conventional shoe having an upper with an open throat. Opposing sides of the upper are tightened using the laces and tightening system of the Hammerslag Patents.
The recent trend with Cycling shoes has been to provide a shoe 100 as shown in FIG. 1. Shoe 100 has a conventional sole 102 and a conventional upper 104. Upper 104 comprises a toe box 106, a tongue 108 covering a throat opening (not specifically shown), and a heel 110. As can be seen on shoe 100, a seam 112 attaches the tongue 108 to upper 104 about toe box 106. A canopy 114 with one or more fasteners 116 are coupled to upper 104 on a first side 118 and releasably attached to upper 114 on a second side 120 such that fasteners 116 traverse tongue 108. Conventionally, fasteners 116 comprise hook and loop style fasteners, such as, for example, VELRCO® straps. These straps, however, have fixed fastening locations that cause localized pressure points, hotspots, and irritation to the user's foot.
While it would be desirous to incorporate the lacing system disclosed by the Hammerslag Patents into conventional cycling shoes, it has been discovered that incorporating the Hammerslag Patents as disclosed into cycling shoes causes localized hotspots, pressure points, and buckling in canopy 114. Thus, it would be desirous to develop an improved shoe tightening system.